We all know exotic alien planets can be very strange and bizarre, and turbulent blue marble exo-planet HD 189733b in the constellation of Vulpecula (The Fox) is no exception. In fact this alien world is a shining example of wild and exotic alienness. Scoring a first for humanity (and Europan Ice Wolves if you happen to be lucky enough to be part of the Pack) those clever NASA and ESA astronomer types with a smidgling of help from the Hubble Space Telescope have figured out the real planetary colours of an alien world circumnavigating another sun; something it does this in 2.2 Earth days tucking in very close and cosy with its parent star (sun).

Although at first glance, and this would have to be a very close up glance, this deep azure blue world, a giant gas planet known as a “hot Jupiter” bears a remarkable similarity to the heart-warming blue colour of Earth as seen when floating just above it in a cosmic deck chair whilst sipping an intrepid tequila in intergalactic space and admiring the view.

However, before you all go rushing off to dust off those aeon old telescopes lying forgotten in the attics and lofts of the home world, don’t! Not a good idea at all. Leave them right where they are…gathering very un-alien like Earth dust! HD 189733b is one of the closest exo-planet’s to Earth but it still lies 63 light years (630 trillion kilometres) from Earth and despite the fact that it shares pretty much the same size and mass stat’s as the Europa’s Ice wolves mother world, Jupiter, and still shines with that beautiful star-blue glow, and even has awesome sunsets, you won’t be able to see it!! No… not even a little blue dot so just take a nice deep breath of Earth air and calm down!

Colour is where the similarity between this exotic exo-planet and Earth end, swallowed hungrily by its dramatically unstable and exotic, atmosphere where it rains glass sideways (drops of molten magnesium silicate particles) in a furious frenzy of hurricane-force winds hitting a ferocious, hyperactive 7000 kilometres-per-hour (4,350 mile per hour). With a searing atmospheric temperature of 1000+ degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit/1000 degrees C day side, 1,200 degrees F/650 degrees C night side – tidally locked so one side always faces its sun) atmospheric water exists in the form of steam, intermingled with vapour mists and fierce, blazing flares. 1,000 tons of its atmosphere is blown away with each passing second by its sun’s (star’s) intermittent solar surges.

And why is HD 189733b a deep and shiny azure blue colour? I hear you ask…albeit very quietly in a “don’t tell Wolfie we asked or we’ll be here all night” kind of tone. The sideways-raining glass (magnesium silicates) in its hyperactive atmosphere, scatter blue light very effectively to create this effect. Earth shines bold and blue due to the blue colours in the sunlight scattering in the atmosphere. Yes, the sun is still there to achieve this very important end even if you can’t mostly see it through all that lovely grey cloud cover. Cold, distant Neptune is also a blue planet, but for the entirely different reason that its air has copious levels of methane gracing it. This decidedly non-breathable Neptunian methane does a pretty good job of absorbing red light blotting it out altogether to human eyesight so that Earth dwellers beady little eyes will only see the blue light reflecting back to them and therefore Neptune is blue. This is a very therapeutic and relaxing colour for the average Earth dweller to cast their beady little eyeballs on according to the therapists.

Exo-planet temperature map data revealed by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope In 2007 allowed scientists the opportunity to chart the bizarre weather environment of the exotic, alien world of exo-planet HD 189733b. It was concluded that there are roughly 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius), differences between the daytime side and night-time side temperatures, and these are also responsible creating the wild, gale force winds buffeting this beautiful marble blue world amongst the stars.

14 responses to “Raining Glass on Exotic Blue Marble Planet”

How fascinating. It does look like earth and your posts and photos are always so creative and interesting!
You and Wolfie should have been with us a few nights ago. We visited this guy in the mountains that has four laser guided monster telescopes and his own astronomy dome. We saw Saturn up close, a lot of nebulas, I saw two satelites, and we found glow worms. Wolfie would have loved it. You might have been interested too…..

Totally absorbed in worlds beyond the beyond; we can only imagine what lies still further in our universe. This wonderful post explains how easily our minds can wander off. What fabulous discoveries are posted here! Thanks Wolfie for keeping us informed!!

Erm… yes! I am relatively familiar with your explorations of weird and wonderful places! lol😉 That glass rain would definitely best be avoided though it is an intriguing concept…possibly not so intriguing if it’s slicing through your nice new brolly lol😉

Hi Wolfie my Icy friend… (Sideways raining Glass..) I thought about that and hummmm seems I would become little more than a Pin-Cushion if I poked my head up through the Vapour Mists….:-) Loved the feel of this planet though Wolfie.. I would love to see the Sunlight Blue Rays though.. On a different note did you see the Upside Down Rainbow photo on the BBC News?… Now that was something… Maybe the Rainbows know some thing about the world, as it seems to be going Upside down Crazy of late.. xox
Enjoy a Howwwling weekend, and hope your not working.. Im back Sunday my weekend now🙂 xxxx Hugs to you xox Sue xox

Lovely to see you back in blogging land Sue🙂 Hope all is well with you. I will be off to visit your blog in a few minutes, whilst we have a night off from the World Cup lol…Sideways raining glass could be something of a liability! But such an unusual notion that it had to have a mention. I haven’t heard about the Upside Down Rainbow not having a TV and having to wait for the new month to start on my mobile – meaning no checking of the BBC news on it if I didn’t want to run up a huge bill from data overuse! Love the idea of one being upside down though🙂 Our world is full of strange phenomenen so I guess blue planets raining glass shouldn’t surprise as much as it does!
Just back from a week’s annual leave…it was great till I came back to a change of management underway, the results of an independant audit which shouldn’t have happened in my absence and the general catch up equating to 2 weeks sorting out for every 1 week’s holiday! Ratty and tired now and wating eagerly to escape into the bright blue yonder after I finish work tomorrow afternoon! Don’t work too hard and enjoy your time off😉 Wolfie hugs xxx

Lot’s of lovely stuff to pillage, shame about the nearby sun though. I’ll put it on the list of places to check out later. Meanwhile still sorting out the moondust to fuel problem. Loving all the 470nm colour- very relaxing. TTFN –

I paid a return visit to yours today🙂 For a refresher…lol….I think I might try your approach to writing…letting the paperwork make it’s own decisions as it were! I might actually make some progress with all my long unfinished story lines if I did that!! Much easier to let them discuss their own merits or lack of!😉

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Ice wolves of Europa. Intergalactic star wolves running with the moon and the stars in the light of another world. Callers of the moon wolves-song and interstellar hunters across the icy surface of the Europan seas. Echoing the call of an alien world and the whispering of the moonshadows, the call of the star songs, and the dream of worlds beyond the stars and cities in the sky.